Kukla's Korner Hockey

“[Simon] has been a pretty honest guy his whole career, but that was disgusting,’’ said the Rangers’ Sean Avery, a vital force again. “I don’t think he should be allowed to play another game the rest of the year.
“I mean, that was just as bad as [Marty] McSorley. I was in shock. Let’s see if the league makes a statement here.’‘

“I’ve always been known as a clean guy and I just feel bad for letting my team down,” Simon said. “I just don’t really want to say anything about the incident right now because I have to talk with the league first.”
Hollweg did not express anger at Simon.
“I’m a little surprised,” Hollweg said. “As far as I knew we respected each other as hockey players and that’s it. I just play my game. And playing my game helped us win, so that’s good.”

What will it take for the league to get serious in cracking down on this crap?
Three and five game suspensions aren’t enough to get the message across. It’s long overdue for the NHL to put some real teeth into the punishments they hand out for these kind of infractions.

I give Simon credit for at least facing the media in a post-game post mortem. But there was little he could say, except for expressing general remorse.
Now it’s up to the NHL warden Colin Campbell to render a decision.
My guess is that it will be a minimum of five games.

Simon should be looking at 10 games, minimum, although, remarkably, Hollweg wasn’t seriously hurt on the play.
Twenty games would be the correct suspension, but with the moment-to-moment NHL, you just never know.
Simon could even get the Chris Neil free pass and I wouldn’t bat an eye. NHL suspensions are just so unpredictable.

When Chris Simon took his stick and used it as a baseball bat against the face of the Rangers Ryan Hollweg he put himself in a position to be made an example.
The league needs to make the penalties for this type of behavior so Draconian, that players will REALLY think twice before they contemplate doing such reckless and dangerous things. If Simon gets less than 15 games for his brutal act, then you can expect that this type of thing will continue.